Breaking Walls (23 page)

“No,” I said. “I don’t want her help. I don’t want anything from her.”

“But Mom has money,” she said. “And after everything she put Dad through, after everything she did to us, she at least owes you that much.”

“I don’t care what Mom owes any of us, Bailey,” I said.

And I knew she understood that. I sat there staring at my sister for what felt like an eternity, wondering how I’d waited so long to come back to her—not just after this fight, but after our falling out when we moved to Sugar Creek. She was one of the very few people I ever truly felt like I could rely on, and I couldn’t fathom how I’d ever let her slip through my fingers.

“Are we going to be okay?” I asked.
Because I was willing to do whatever I had to do to earn her forgiveness. I loved her too much to lose her again.

“Yeah, sis,” she smiled. “We really are.”

“Hey, do you have a second?”

Fletcher turned away from his open locker, looking over his shoulder to meet my gaze.

“Oh, hey Mandy,” he said, looking back as he shoved another book onto the crammed shelf. “What’s going on?”

He slammed the door shut and turned back to me. It was the end of the school day, and I didn’t have much time on my hands. Bailey was outside waiting for me in the parking lot, and Jones was waiting on me to relieve him from his shift at the bakery.

“I’m sure you’ve already heard—”

“That you quit, yeah,” he nodded. “I was surprised. I thought you were in it to the finish.”

“Yeah, me too.” I managed my best smile and lifted a folder. “I have something for you, and I won’t keep you long. I just wanted to let you know that everything’s in order for the dance.”

He creased his brow. “What do you mean?”

“It took a while to track everything down, but I finally started talking to the right people. After the meeting on Monday, Carla passed all the dance stuff on to Katie, and then Katie dropped it on Gretchen. Turns out, she didn’t want it either, so I finally caught up with Alan, and he was still holding onto the plans.” I glanced at the folder. “Between the work Carla and I did, and tying up a few loose ends, everything is ready. The dance is good to go.”

“But you quit, right?”

“Right,” I said. “But
you
didn’t. You’re still on the team, and I want you to take the lead.”

“I don’t know, Mandy,” he said, shrugging. “I already told Carla I didn’t want it. I have my hands full.”

“I can’t promise that you won’t have to do anything, but I can assure you that you won’t be responsible for much. The tickets, fliers, and ads are all printed up and ready to go. Everything’s boxed up in Mr. Davies’s classroom. I’ve made calls to confirm the band and the refreshments. I even stopped by the office this morning and confirmed the space in the gym just to be safe. It’s all in order. My sister has a ton of archived dance decorations ready to move into the gym on the morning of the finale, and Dad’s agreed to come in and do an opening speech of sorts.”

“Okay?”

“And since you’re so busy, and you can’t really take on much more, I’ve talked to Bailey. We stayed up all night last night working out a plan. She’s happy to do whatever she can to help you pull this off,” I said. “Actually, she’s agreed to do
everything
from here on out. Thing is, though, she’s not an RI volunteer, so she’s going to need someone on the team as a partner of sorts.”

“A partner?”

“Just basically someone she can say she’s tagging along with, reporting to,” I said. “Someone who can take credit when all’s said and done.”

“And you think that someone should be
me
?”

“Here’s what I think: the ticket sales are going to be great,” I said. “Any money you can add to your fundraising total will only get Sugar Creek that much closer to the win. I think you’d be stupid to turn your backs on the dance so close to the finish.”

He rubbed the back of his neck.

“Mandy,” he dropped his hand to his side. “Why are you doing this? You quit. You shouldn’t be worrying about this stuff.”

“Just because I quit doesn’t mean I stopped caring. I want to see you win, Fletcher,” I said. “Bailey and I want to help however we can. So I’ve finished up the planning, and Bailey’s agreed to do the executing. She just needs you there on the final day to help pull everything together, and then you have one more thing to take credit for in the end.”

He blinked, watching me slowly.

“Are you sure this isn’t like…cheating?”

“It’s not,” I said. “Mr. Davies knows I’m passing it off to you, and he’s agreed to let Bailey step in
to help you out. Fletch, you’ve had your hand in this project from the beginning. The theme was
your
idea, and you were there when I pitched the dance to Lashell, and then
again
to Gabe. It was just as much yours as it was mine from day one. Just because things have changed and the dance has passed hands doesn’t mean that you’re any less a part of the original idea.” He looked down to the notebook as I passed it to him. “It’s yours now.”

He looked to me
again, and then back down to the folder, and then he finally took it.

“You’re sure?”

“One hundred percent. Bailey’s number is in the folder. She’ll be in touch, but you’re welcome to call her if you need to.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem,” I said, nodding down the hall. “Now I’ve gotta go. I have to stop by the newsroom before I leave and drop some details with Georgia. Now that I’m off the team, she has me on full coverage of the Raddick Initiative. We’re running a single-page special edition next week to really drum up some good vibes for the finale. All the advertising, coverage, you name it. I’m in charge.”

“Sounds fun.”

“It’s really not,” I said, smiling. “But it means I’ll get to stay nearby and watch things as they unfold, and I wouldn’t trade that for the world.”

After a quick goodbye, I left Fletcher at his locker and turned down the far hallway and into the newsroom.

“Okay,” I said, digging into my shoulder bag. “I’ve got doubles of all the dance information, so we need to start compiling a list of everything we have and everything we still need to run next week’s issue.” I pulled another folder from my bag and then looked up. Georgia reclined in the chair behind the editor’s desk, propping her hands behind her head as she arched her brow. She trailed a look to me as I stared between her and the man sitting on the other side of the desk.

“Gabe?” My heart fluttered at his faint grin. “What’s going on? What are you—
”

“He just dropped by for a quick interview, that’s all,” Georgia said, not giving him a chance to speak for himself. She dropped her hands, sat up straight, and leaned forward. “Next week’s special edition is a big deal, and we want to include quotes from Gabe, Lashell, and a couple of the volunteers. I thought it would add a nice little touch.”

“Yeah, yeah, it will. That’s a great idea,” I said, looking at the clock over her desk.
Crap
. I needed to hurry. I could hear my phone vibrating in my pocket, and no doubt it was Bailey on the other end, frantically calling to tell me to hurry up so we could leave. If she didn’t drop me off at the bakery soon, Jones couldn’t leave, and I
couldn’t
be the reason he was late for his economics test.

I lifted the folder a little higher, sliding it across her desk. I avoided looking at Gabe again as I said, “There are the details you wanted. If there’s anything missing, you’ll just have to let me know
, and I’ll talk to Bailey or Fletcher.”

“Okay,” she said, still swiveling back and forth in her chair. She wore the goofiest smile.
What was her deal?
“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” I managed a small wave in their general direction as I headed for the door.

“Actually, Mandy, we were just finishing up here.” She looked down to her notes. “Yeah, I think I have everything I need. If you wouldn’t mind, could you walk Gabe back to the office so he could sign out?”

“He doesn’t need to sign out
; the final bell already rang,” I glanced at the clock.
Fifteen minutes ago!

“Then you can walk him to his car,” she said, widening her stare. “He’s our guest. Don’t be rude.”

“Sure, okay,” I nodded.

“That was very subtle,” Gabe said to her, laughing. He stood up and reached across the desk to shake Georgia’s hand. “Thank you for having me. This was…probably the strangest interview I’ve ever done.” She grinned. “If you do happen to need anything else, Mandy has my number. She can call anytime.”

“Yeah, you hear that, Mandy?” she said, bouncing her eyebrows. “You can call
anytime
.”

“I’m
kinda in a hurry, can we just—”

“Yeah,” Gabe nodded, and then reached over and took a piece of crumpled paper off the corner of the desk. Looking to Georgia he said, “I’m going to keep this.”

“That’s what it’s there for,” she said, waving to both of us as we joined sides by the door. “Bye-bye, you two.”

Chapter
Nineteen

I almost feared my heart would beat right out of my chest.

The last time I saw him, I spilled my guts. I might’ve even inadvertently told him I loved him, only to watch him leave. What was I supposed to expect from him now? This walk out to his car could be disastrous.

Since parting ways on Monday night, I’d made up with Dad, Bailey, and I’d even quit the program. I closed my eyes. No. I wasn’t ready to talk about that again—not with him. He’d never understand. So I had to get the topic of conversation off me before it ever got
on
me.

“
Whatcha got there?” I asked, looking at the crumpled piece of paper in his hands. As we walked through the quiet halls, he folded it into a small square and tucked it into his back pocket.

H
e turned to look at me, and then his grin grew wider. “It’s an article.”

“About what?”

“Nothing special. Just a Mandy Parker original.”

“It’s an article
I
wrote?”

“Yep.”

“And why are you keeping it, again?”

“Long story short: I was talking to Mr. Davies and Georgia stopped me on my way out and asked if we could squeeze in a quick interview. I was hesitant, but when she told me you were officially in charge of the RI coverage, naturally I agreed.” I had to turn my head so he couldn’t see my smile. “When we got to the newsroom
, you weren’t there, and she said she’d be conducting the interview herself.”

“Okay?”

“Of course, I had to ask why. Shouldn’t the person in charge of RI coverage handle the interviews
about
RI?”

“Right,” I said, nodding.
“Yeah, of course. I don’t know why she—”

“She said that as much as she loves you, she doesn’t trust you with
certain
interviews.”

“What?
Why
?”

His smile grew wider, and it suddenly dawned on me.
Please
tell me she didn’t give him that article! She wouldn’t do that! She
couldn’t
have. I threw it away. After she assigned the piece, I interviewed Gabe, wrote up the article, and turned it in. She said she wouldn’t run it.
If we were trying to publish a story that captured the angelic essence of Gabriel Raddick, then I’d print your article today
. But then she scrapped it, and I tossed it into the garbage can myself.

But Gabe’s copy
was
crumpled and wrinkled. Had she dug it out?
And why would she show it to him?

“You read it?”

“I did.” Oh, I was gonna kill her. And
him
! What was with that smug look? He added, “And I have to say, I was impressed. You have a way with words, Mandy. Very crisp and precise. Lots of detail in very few words. It was a great read.”

“Oh my God, will you just say it already.”

“Say what?”